Fresh off the back of firing up the crowds at this year’s Damnation festival, there has been a lot of positive feedback on the Facebook groups about Orbit Culture and Gaerea’s fast-rising ascendency in the metal world. Both acts have dipped their toes into the mainstream in the last twelve months, with Orbit Culture also putting in a solid performance on Download’s main stage. So, we ventured into the subterranean chasm that is Leeds Stylus to see how these bands fare on their own terms with their own production front and centre, with great anticipation to find out if they have what it takes to claim the top billing at future events.
Atlas are the opener tonight, and they’re a band we’re being introduced to for the first time. The Finnish five-piece deals in a contemporary progressive take on djent-driven metal with a fondness for epic sweeping choruses and immersive mid-section drifts. They’re very energetic and engaging and put in a spirited set that gets the first cautious moshpits going from the more youthful sections of the audience. When the band locks into their grooves, and there are a few killer moments of this, it really feels like they’ve got something. One of the elements that really stands out is that their guitarist has the most unique voice in the band; his backup vocals have a really impressive range and venture into a typically Scandinavian upper register, usually reserved for bands like 80s Norwegian pop kings A-Ha. This makes us think this band might want to use their secret weapon a bit more. Altogether, it’s an admirable opening salvo, and it’s piqued our interest as to what this band might do in a couple of years.
Gaerea is a band we’re very excited for, they’re really polarising opinion, which means they’re doing everything right in our eyes. We remember the audience at Fortress being split right down the middle between love and hate at Fortress Festival back in 2024, before their even more melodic take on post-black metal really set in. Crashing onto the stage with their latest single Hellbound, it seems quite clear that their black metal roots are anything but forgotten, with its barrage of blast beats and soaring guitars, and frontman Guilherme stalking and gliding on the beats whilst alternating his hearty bellow with huge choruses, his voice sounding pitch perfect. It’s an amazing entrance and one that seems to have awoken a gremlin because part way into their next song Submerged it becomes apparent that a dalek is taking over on vocals, this takeover continues into the introduction for the next track Hope Shatters but by this point it actually sounds pretty cool, normal service is resumed in time for the first chorus and if we’re honest, they might want to think about using that effect in future.
All jokes aside, Gaerea at full tilt is an awesome thing to behold if you get the idea that they’re a black metal band out of your mind, because at this point, they’re really not, but they do stand firmly adjacent. So maybe just immerse yourself in something truly brilliant and unique instead, as we do as the incendiary World Ablaze scorches the earth around it and takes our breath away as much as it did when we first heard it. Whilst not having the full production of the headliners, Gaerea still put on a show-stopping performance with an artistic take on their lighting and wildly theatrical stagecraft. As the band bow out on 2022’s Mirage, they not only remind us that they haven’t forgotten their black metal past, but also that they will do exactly what they want with it, and the cvlt elite have exactly zero say in the matter.
Orbit Culture have their work cut out following that performance, and from the get-go, it looks like they intend to do that by scorching our retinas. The band play backlit with a strobing rig that seems to have harnessed the power of a thousand suns. By the end of their first track, their latest album’s title track, Death Above Life we’d be hard pushed to know whether it was well received or not, since we can no longer see. After retreating to a safe distance so we can actually review the show, we can report that the Swedish melodeath put in a solid workman-like performance. It’s reliable, it’s bouncy in places, and it certainly gets the pits going. Tales Of War is definitely notable in this respect, and the crowd erupts accordingly, and the electronically enhanced cyberblast of Bloodhound unleashes total chaos in the pit from their faithful fans. The feeling we get from Orbit Culture is that they are very good at what they do; the problem is, they’re not the only band doing it. Could they get to In Flames’ style of success? We’re pretty sure they could; they have much in common with bands like that or even The Haunted. In fact, and herein lies the issue, they have a lot in common with other bands. Maybe it’s because they’ve just followed a band as wildly inventive as Gaerea that they look and sound, well, pretty ordinary, when you can actually make out that there actually is a band on stage.
Most of this crowd won’t agree with me because they’re having a great time headbanging and moshing to riffs and blasts and breakdowns all perfectly combined in a trademark Swedish melodeath fashion, and that’s brilliant if that’s what you came here for, and they did. Orbit Culture are headlining. The parting Fear Factory-esque riffing of Vultures Of The North is bloody good fun, and you’re never going to fail doing blast chugs in a dropped tuning over a mid-paced beat; the chaos in the pit is testament to that. Some people don’t want their bands reinventing the wheel; some people want a meat-and-potatoes band they can depend on to handbag to. Orbit Culture is that band; they are a safe bet if you want a straight-up, no-nonsense mosh. We can’t help but feel that on this occasion, they were severely outclassed by the incredible artistry of Gaerea, not that it’s a competition, of course.
Tonight was definitely a bold bill, and anyone who attended was treated to many sides of metal’s different sounds, and for that, it must be applauded. As we stagger out of Stylus, wishing we’d brought sunglasses, we may be blind, but we are happy. The general feeling is that we had fun, Gaerea were brilliant, and Orbit Culture was solid, and that’s not too shabby for a wet Wednesday night in Leeds, is it?
Review By George Miller – https://www.facebook.com/oneflamemedia
Photos By: Thomas Hazlehurst – https://www.instagram.com/tommytogtog/
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Atlas
Gaerea
Orbit Culture
